


Exceeds expectations

by simplysansan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drarry, It's drarry, M/M, i'm still not sure about how i'm gonna do this, idk about smut, might crop up at the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 16:32:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11695554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplysansan/pseuds/simplysansan
Summary: Tumblr Prompt: Draco is a yearbook photographer and Harry is a teacher at the same school. And they absolutely hate each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time i'm writing Drarry. So be gentle, guys :)

“Morning, class,” greeted Harry as he walked into the classroom on a Wednesday morning, already a few minutes late. 

Ron had taken him out drinking last night. “Listen, mate,” he’d said. “You need to loosen up a little. I know things have been hard since Ginny left. But it’s been 2 years. I’m taking you out.” 

What had started out as a pint of beer at a local pub in London had blown up into a massive drinking competition between Ron and Dean, whom they ran into, later into the night. Harry regretted it this morning. He threw up once in the shower and picked up his usual morning coffee with extra shots of expresso on his way to the school.

As the class shuffled about, settling themselves into their seats, Harry rubbed his forehead and decided that he was going to let Sally lead a discussion on of the books they had read in class. 

20 minutes later, when still a decision hadn’t been made regarding the book to be discussed about, the vice principal, Luna Lovegood knocked on the door and motioned to him to step outside. 

“I’ll be back in 5 minutes. We either have a discussion, or we have a pop quiz. It’s your call, people,” and said. 

Outside, in the hallway, Luna was standing, leaning on the wall, looking at him in a disapproving manner. “You don’t look so good, Harry. What happened?”

Harry and Luna went to school together. Luna was a grade below him, but they were very good friends. 

“Ugh, Ron and I went drinking last night. And we ran into Dean,” he groaned, leaning face-first into the wall.  
“Can’t have been a good morning, then, I assume?” said Luna.  
“Mhm hmm,” he said. He could hear her smile in her voice. Harry had always liked Luna. Though she had been Ginny’s best friend, they hadn’t lost touch or stopped talking to each other after the divorce. She had actually helped him through some tough times. Eccentric as she might be, Luna was a friend Harry could always count on, to be there for him. 

“I hear Ron and Hermione are trying again?” she sounded happy for them. “Yeah,” he said, turning around and leaning back onto the wall. “He was saying something about it last night. I don’t really remember.”

“I’m not surprised. Anyway, I called you out to tell you that the yearbook pictures are gonna be taken today. And we need volunteers.”

“Is it that same person who did it last year? Because if it is, I’m out. He’s got a rod up his arse.”

“Harry,” Luna sounded tired, all of a sudden. “Yes, Mr. Malfoy’s very professional when it comes to his job, but he’s a nice person. One of my classmates went out with him a few years ago and he was the one who gave me his number. And according to him, Draco Malfoy’s a pretty cool person. You don’t have to talk to him. You can just stand in a corner, like you did last year and maybe just make sure that all the students get their pictures taken.”

“What did Parvati say about all this?”

“Well, as the principal, she has to meet with him personally. So she’s gonna be there, at least for half hour. And then, you’re on your own.”

Letting out a heavy breath, Harry said, “Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Thanks Harry,” said Luna, breaking into a smile. 

“I’m doing this for you. Not for Parvati.”

“I know. But she’ll be happy you agreed to it.” Harry smiled at Luna and walked back into the class. Parvati was nice. She was his classmate, just like Ron and Hermione. But he had asked her to go with him to prom, and that night had been a complete disaster. But they’d gotten over it and worked together now. 

“So,” Harry raised his voice so that the whole class could hear. “Have we come to a decision yet?”


	2. Chapter 2

The session was scheduled to take place after lunch, and Harry was thankful that he had some time to work off his hangover with some extremely unhealthy food and asprin before he had to face that awful photographer. 

He was sitting at his table, going through some assignments, after lunch, when he got a text from Luna telling him that he was there. 

“Thanks again, Harry. Drinks are on me next time,” her text said.  
“I am never ever drinking, ever again,” replied Harry.  
“Of course, you’re not,” it came back.  
“Now get going. You don’t want to keep Parvati waiting,” she sent before he had a chance to think of a response.  
Harry replied with a thumbs up emoji and got up from his desk. He took a deep breath and walked to the classroom where the session was set to happen. 

“Mr Potter, please hold the door,” he heard Parvati’s voice, as he walked into the room.  
“Oh hey Par- Principal Patil.” She smiled up at him and turned around to the photographer. 

Harry had completely missed him. But there he was, with all his photography equipment and a heavy looking bag slung on his shoulder. His glasses were sliding down his nose, which was pink at the tip because of the unseasonal cold winds outside. “Mr…Potter, was it?”  
“Yes, hello Mr. Malfoy,” said Harry, not extending his hand. 

The three of them stood in silence for a few seconds. Harry holding the door, Malfoy with his heavy camera and equipment and Parvati standing between them.  
“Right. Shall we?” Parvati broke the uncomfortable silence.  
“Yes, of course,” smiled Malfoy and walked past Harry into the room. Harry thought he smelt like cinnamon and freshly baked coffee beans.

He was quick to set up his things and it was apparent from the way he behaved that he was a professional. Harry headed over to where the students were gathered to make sure everyone was present, while Parvati made sure things were ok for Malfoy. 

Apparently they were, and she was standing near the door, waiting for Harry. 

“Why don’t you like him, Harry? He seems nice,” piped Parvati as he came and stood next to her. 

“I don’t know. We didn’t like each other last year either. Looks like nothing’s changed,” he said with a shrug.  
“Alright, I’m gonna have to leave in the next ten minutes. I need you to promise me that you’ll keep things running smoothly.”  
“Oooohhhhhh, hot date tonight, Ms. Patil?” he said slyly, looking sideways at her.  
“Potter, I’d whoop your ass if my students weren’t in this room.”  
Harry laughed and said, “Don’t worry, Parvati. I’ll take care.”

She nodded, walked over to Malfoy and he heard her tell him that Harry was in charge after he left. His smile faltered for a second, but he was quick enough to recover in time so that no one except Harry noticed. 

Parvati nodded at him again as she walked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Throughout the session, Harry and Malfoy rarely spoke to each other. After about an hour or so, Harry walked up to him and said “Would you like some coffee?”  
Malfoy, who was doing something with his camera, looked up at Harry, with a surprised look on his face. “What?”

“I’m going out to get some coffee for me. Would you like some?” Harry saw his glasses sliding down his nose and had the sudden urge to push it back up. He didn’t, though.  
“Yeah, sure. I’d like some. Thanks mate,” he said, slowly smiling.  
“Just black, or….”  
“Yes. Black, no sugar.”  
“Alright. I’ll be back in a bit.”  
Closing the door of the room, he noticed that Malfoy had a small smile on his face.  
When he came back, he heard raised voices inside the room. He hurried back inside to find Malfoy standing with his arm resting on the camera, but looking at his phone. Looked like no one’s photograph was currently being taken. 

“What happened?” said Harry, walking over to Malfoy and handing him his coffee.  
“I have no idea. I just said who’s next and those two started yelling at each other.”  
“Ugh, oh God, I wished so hard we wouldn’t have a quote fight this year.”  
“What’s a quote fight?” asked Malfoy, sipping his coffee.  
“Well, to put it simply, two students want the same quote, but neither of them are willing to give it up.”  
“Huh,” he said and went back to his phone.  
“Can you please hold this while I sort this shit out?” Harry said, handing Malfoy his coffee.  
Malfoy chuckled, “Go ahead.”

Harry sighed as he walked towards the students. He hated using his teacher voice. “I’m gonna need silence here right now, or everyone’s getting detention for a week.” The entire room fell silent.

“Thank you. Now what’s happening here?”  
“Mr. Potter.” Ted, a quirky, but smart kid, rasied his hand.  
“Yes? Ted?”  
“All I wanted, was Victoire to go to Prom with me, but…”  
“Ted. You know teachers can’t get involved in who’s asking who to prom. You need to stop talking about that to us. Yes, and just because Lu- Ms. Lovegood might have given you some advice doesn’t mean you go around asking us what to do. Grow up, and ask her straight to her face.”

“Mr. Potter,” said Abbey Abott. “Millicent stole my quote, and she’s saying she’s gonna use it as her yearbook quote.”  
“Millicent, would you like to say anything about this?”  
“Yes I would. If she really cared about it, she wouldn’t have left it lying around on a piece of paper. I found it. And it’s mine.”  
“Ladies”, said Harry, rubbing his eyes. “I see only one solution to this. Either you decide, before the end of the session, who’s going to use the quote. Or neither of you are getting your picture taken, and I don’t think Mr. Malfoy would like to come with all his equipment another day just so that you can get your pictures taken. Would you, Mr. Malfoy?”

“Ohh. Umm… Yeah… no. I…Of cou-”

“You have half hour, ladies. Can we have the next student up here, please? We don’t have all day”.

Harry turned around to see Malfoy’s face plastered with a goofy grin, and walked towards him.  
“Well, you principal Duvall-ed this whole situation,” he smirked.  
“You don’t seem like a Mean Girls guy,” said Harry, honestly surprised.  
“Ehh…I grew up watching that movie.”

Harry could feel him smiling at Malfoy. In a turn of events, Malfoy was also smiling at him. He realised that he had a wonderful smile, and his entire face seemed to brighten up.  
Harry suddenly realised that they had been standing like that for some time and loudly cleared his throat. “How much longer is it gonna take?”

“Ohh.. Umm…” Malfoy stumbled for a second. “There are around 7 students left. Including those 2 girls who were fighting.” Malfoy turned to the side and focused on his camera so that Harry couldn’t catch him blushing. 

“Cool. I guess that shouldn’t take long, then. If you need anything, I’ll be right over there on that bench outside.”

Malfoy nodded and watched Harry walk out and sit on the bench and pull out a book from his bag. 

Sitting on the bench, Harry just couldn’t concentrate and read the book. He kept looking up and into the room, and watched Malfoy working. Once or twice, they caught each other’s eyes and smiled or nodded at each other. 

About forty minutes later, when Harry didn’t realise that he has actually started reading, he heard someone walking and looked up. It was Malfoy. 

“All done?”  
“Yup. The students have left, the room’s locked and I guess that’s it…?”  
“Yeah,” said Harry putting his book back into his bag.  
“Those two girls who were fighting were-”  
“I don’t want to know,” said Harry holding up his hand. “They’re almost adults and they need to sort things out by themselves.”  
Malfoy nodded. “And they did. Yeah.”

Harry held out his hand. “Nice meeting you again, Mr. Malfoy.”  
Malfoy took his hand and shook it. “Me too Mr. Potter. Definitely better than last year.”  
Harry snickered and fished out his car keys from his pocket. “See you around.” 

Malfoy nodded, and began walking away.  
Harry didn’t know why or how he did it, but he called out, “Oi, Mr. Malfoy.”  
“Yeah?”  
“I’m heading to Dan’s for a drink. Would you like in?”  
He turned halfway to look at Harry. “Ohh… ummm…I’d…I’d like to, but I can’t today. I have some moving to do. Thanks for the offer though.” He smiled.  
“Ah, that’s alright. Move safe. Bye,” he said and walked away quickly. He could feel his face getting red. He told himself that it was the cold, and headed to his car.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty short one!

The next day, Harry decided was going to sleep in. Fitness can go fuck a cactus today, he thought. Thankfully, since it was his day off, he didn’t have to call in sick. Parvati always knew when he was lying about being sick. 

He finally got out of bed at 9.30 and put on a pot of coffee. He hadn’t gone to Dan’s the night before. Instead, he had just driven around aimlessly for a while before heading home. He ran a hot shower before finally getting to bed. 

After pouring himself a cup of coffee, he unlocked the door to collect the paper, and found it stuck underneath a cardboard box full of books. He heard someone talking inside the apartment next door. It had been empty for a few months now, and it looked like someone was finally moving in. 

Harry put down his mug and lifted the cardboard box to pull out the paper. 

“Sorry for the clutter, mate,” he heard a voice above him. “I thought no one was home, since it’s quite late on a weekday. I’ll clear it up immediately.”  
“Oh no no. It’s no problem at all,” said Harry. “I’m not expecting any guests and I’m not going out anywhere today, either. So, please, take your time.”  
“Thanks a lot. That’s a relief.”

“Wh-”  
“Hey Zack, can you give me a hand here?” called out someone who’s voice seemed vaguely familiar to Harry. 

“Yeah, hold on love,” Zack smiled apologetically at Harry and quickly walked over to the stairs, where someone was carrying two cardboard boxes on top of each other. They were in front of them, so Harry couldn’t see their face. He heard the two of them talking and realised that the other person was also a man. 

Not wanting to intrude, Harry turned back and walked into his house when he heard Zack calling out, “Hey, Mr. Neighbour!” Harry turned around only to see Draco Malfoy carrying a box, and standing next to Zack. 

Zack didn’t notice that Harry and Malfoy were staring at each other and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“Ohh it’s umm… I’m Harry.”  
“I’m Zacharias, and this is my boyfriend, Draco.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also another short one.

Harry and Draco were still staring at each other, not noticing that Zack had introduced himself and Draco. Harry felt something in his stomach, but brushed it off as indigestion. He could see Draco’s glasses sliding down his nose. Once again, he felt the urge to reach out and push it back up, but he didn’t do anything.

“I actu-”  
“I went to his-”  
Both Harry and Draco had started talking at the same time. 

“Sorry,” said Harry. “I know Mr. Malfoy, actually. He came to my school yesterday. He was our yearbook photographer.”  
“Yeah,” said Draco quickly. “Mr. Potter was the teacher volunteering.”  
“Ohhhh, that’s nice. That’s nice,” smiled Zack. 

“Alright, I’ll leave you fellas to your moving. If you need something, just ring the bell,” said Harry and walked into his house and closed the door. 

As Harry sat on his couch drinking his coffee and reading the paper, he heard the two men talking and the sound of cardboard boxes being lifted and put down. He realised that he was straining to hear what they were talking about. He decided that he was going to distract himself, and cleared out his wardrobe. He found a few old but sturdy jackets and decided that he was going to give those away. 

He looked at the time and was horrified to see that it was only 10.45. “Shit, it’s going to be one of those days,” he said to himself. “Screw this, fitness going to fuck a cactus can go fuck a cactus,” he decided and pulled out his gym clothes. 

Filling up his gym bag with some new washed clothes and a bottle of Gatorade, Harry stepped out, only to see that all the boxes were inside Zack’s house, but Malfoy and Zack were standing outside, talking. 

Harry politely smiled at them, and locked his door. 

“Alright, bye love,” he heard Zack say, and looked up just in time to see Zack peck Malfoy on the mouth. He rolled his eyes and made a mental note to buy some indigestion medication on the way back home. 

“Why don’t you walk out with Mr. Potter, Draco? You guys can get to know each other. You’re going to be neighbours, after all,” said Zack.

Malfoy smiled at him, tight-lipped, but looked at Harry and walked over quickly to join him. Harry nodded, with a half-smile and started going down the stairs. He could feel Malfoy a few steps above him. “Was this the move you said you had to do?” said Harry not wanting to extend the uncomfortable silence any longer. 

“Yeah, we moved a little last night, but we mostly moved everything this morning.”  
When Harry walked out of the door, he was surprised to see Malfoy walk with him. “Did you drive here?” he asked.  
“Yeah, my car’s parked out on the road.”  
“Well, residents usually park in the basement.”  
“Ohh ok, I’ll tell Zack,” he said.  
“Right, I guess I’ll see you around,” said Harry.  
“Yep. Hey, would you like a lift somewhere?”  
“No, I’m going to the gym, and I usually jog. It’s just a few streets away.”  
“Alright,” nodded Malfoy and unlocked his car.

Harry felt that he had to say something. So, he said the first thing that came to his mind. “Make sure you park in the basement. Cars on the street usually get towed.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that, Mr. Potter,” said Malfoy, grinning. “I don’t live here.” His grin turned into a smirk. “See you around.” He promptly got into the car, and drove off without another word. 

Harry waited until the car had disappeared inside a turn and released a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is... quite late, to say the least. But i am so sorry. Hopefully the next few chapters will make up for it. I love you all so much <3

The next few weeks went by without anything out of the ordinary happening. 

Harry found out that though his neighbour seemed like a nice guy, he could be kind of a pompous dick at times. It's not like he'd done anything to Harry personally to offend him, but he just had that feeling. 

He ran into Malfoy a few times on his way in and out of his apartment. Sometimes, he was with Zack and sometimes, he was alone. But over the weeks, they had asked each other to call them by their first names. 

Harry went to dinner at Ron and Hermione's on Friday, and after dinner, they decided to go out to a place near their house for drinks. After a few pints (non-alcoholic for Hermione), she got up and headed towards to the ladies to take a call. She worked for the department of international affairs, and taking calls at 12.45 in the night was something that happened almost everyday for her. 

While she was gone, Harry and Ron ordered another round, and a tonic for Hermione. "You alright, mate?" asked Ron when they were waiting to get their drinks. "Yeah... Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. You just don't seem your usual self. Hermione mentioned it as well." Harry shrugged, genuinely not knowing what Ron was so concerned about. 

"I really don't know Harry. Something just seems off. I think you were like this before you started going out with Ginny."

"How is she, by the way?" said Harry, trying to change the subject. 

Ron understood that Harry didn't want to talk about it, and told him about what Ginny had been doing for the last couple of months. Harry and Ron had been best friends ever since they were eleven years old, and Ron knew that if it was a problem he could fix, Harry would tell him. 

They were talking about the most recent world cup, when Hermione came back. "Guy's I'm sorry, but I need to head to the office right now."

"Now?", said Harry and Ron at the same time. This wasn't new, but it was a Friday night, and Hermione was in a position where if she asked the people at her department not to disturb her during the weekend, they won't. 

"Yeah, remember that merger I was telling you about? There's been some miscommunication with the other party. I have a meeting with their head in 40 minutes."

"Alright love, do you want us to drop you?", asked Ron. "No no, I can take a cab."

"At 12.45 in the night? No. Hermione, take my car. I haven't had much to drink. I can drive Ron home and stay over tonight. We'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Are you sure Harry? You don't need it for anything?" Harry assured her that he wasn't going anywhere after this, and that since tomorrow was a Saturday, he didn't have to go to school either. Hermione hugged Harry and gave Ron a kiss before she left.

"Alright, I'm just going to use the gents," said Harry. He manoeuvred his way between the dancing couples and groups, making sure not to step on anyone's foot or knock their glasses out of their hand. 

When he was almost at the door to the gents, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. "Fancy seeing you here mate," shouted Zack over the loud music. Harry did not know why, but he felt his stomach drop. "Ohh hey Zack, here with Draco?" Harry thought his voice sounded expectant. 

"No, I'm here with-" he stopped and shook his head, as if to clear it. "I'm here with a friend." The "friend" emerged from the crowed a few seconds later, holding two cocktails, and put them on the table. Reaching up, he pulled Zack's face down and kissed him full on the lips. His grip on Harry's shoulder loosened and Harry quickly made his way to the gents, and back to Ron making sure that he didn't run into Zack again.


End file.
